What is Ehlers Danlos Syndrome?

The process of diagnosis often feels like it moves in reverse. It is like being given 1000 puzzle pieces. The pieces are clearly laid out in front of you, but you don’t know which pieces are significant, how they fit together, or if all of these pieces even belong to the same puzzle.

Symptoms include (but are not limited to):
-hyperextensible skin
-velvety soft skin
-stretch marks (even at a young age/non-pregnancy related)

If you are wondering how so many things could be going wrong in one body, you are not alone. Most physicians feel the same way, which is why Ehlers Danlos is so commonly misdiagnosed as anxiety and depression. Patients are often seen as drug seekers, doctor shoppers, and hungry for attention. The average amount of time it takes to receive a correct diagnose is between ten and twenty years.

Ehlers Danlos syndromes are a group of inherited connective tissue disorders that effect how a body produces and interacts with collagen. Collagen is found in every system of the body, which means that the effects of Ehlers Danlos syndrome can be found in every system of the body.

Here’s a fun little jingle for any medical professional reading, “If you can’t connect the issues, think Connective Tissues!”

Once you arrive at connective tissues being the missing link, you can see the whole of what is actually happening in the body.
You have been handed the top of your puzzle box, the full picture. You know what you are looking at, you can begin to put your puzzle pieces together.